Little Angel´s Darker Side
by KatiKat
Summary: Noone takes anything from Quatre without paying for it... 4+2, rated R for violence and past NCS


**Little Angel´s Darker Side**  
  
  
by KatiKat  
  
  
  
  
The street they chose for the exchange was dark - the streetlight kept flickering on and off, leaving most of the street to the shadows - and it smelled. On first sight you knew that you were in the wrong part of the town for a nightwalk. I felt really strange leaning against my hundred thousand dollar car with a backpack full of money lying on the driver´s seat. One million dollars to be precise. They thought it to be a lot of money. That made it obvious that they weren´t really experienced in this "job". They could have demanded ten, hundreds of millions from me, I would have given them my last cent to get my lover back. I just hoped that their lack of experience would make it easier to retrieve Duo from them.  
  
I still couldn´t believe they caught him so easily. We must have gotten really out of shape since the wars had ended. We found his car at the university - he studied Anthropology, 3rd year -, a small dart covered in Duo´s blood and tranquiliser on the ground next to it. It must have gone down pretty quickly since nobody noticed anything. And I only noticed that Duo was missing only because of the call of the kidnappers. We never thought something like that could happen. We weren´t prepared for it. There was peace in the world after all. The war with its dangers was gone. Obviously we made a grave mistake. I just hoped that we wouldn´t have to pay the highest price for it.  
  
I narrowed my eyes. If they touched Duo, if they hurt him in any way, I would kill them. I would hunt them down and kill them with my bare hands. People always underestimated me. I knew how to use it to my advantage. There were only a couple of people who knew what I was capable of - the other Gundam pilots. And even they didn´t know everything. I wasn´t the little angel people used to call me. I probably had more darkness in me than everybody else together. I was just better at hiding it.  
  
A car turned onto the street where I was waiting. Its headlights lit the darkness. My car and me in a five thousand dollar suit were clearly visible. I forced myself to relax. I slid an uncaring mask on my face and I knew that my eyes turned cold. Iria told me once that I scared her when I got this "look" as she called it. Good.  
  
The car stopped maybe fifteen feet away from me, the headlights still turned on. Two men stepped out of the car but didn´t move into the light. "Are you Winner?" one of them asked, his accent so thick I almost didn´t understand a word he said.  
  
I raised my eyebrows. He didn´t know me? Where did he come from? The moon? "Yes, I´m Quatre Winner. You have something for me?" I was proud to find my voice completely steady even though my guts were clenched in fear for my lover.  
  


The man gave out a rasp that could be considered a laugh. "´Course we have." He waved to his partner. The other man bent down and pulled an unresisting figure out of the car. I had to force myself not to squint and try to see them better. The only thing I recognized were dark shapes. He dragged the figure that I hoped was Duo closer and threw it on the ground in front of the car.  
  
I clenched my teeth. It was Duo. He hit the ground with a hard thud and didn´t move at all. The only sound he gave out was a quiet moan. His clothes were torn, hands tied behind his back. They used some dirty rag as a gag. The bruises on his face were clearly visible in the harsh light and I was sure there were even worse injuries hidden under his clothes. I had to force myself not to rush forward and hug my lover tightly. He had been gone only for a day, but for me it was a small eternity. For one day my worst fears came true - a life without Duo. It had been the worst 24 hours in my life and I would do anything in my power not to live through something like that again.  
  
"Where´s my money?" the man called out again as he spit on the ground.  
  
I straightened and moved around the car. I bent inside and retrieved the backpack, one of Duo´s - I made a mental note to buy him a new one -, walked back into the light and threw it on the ground just feet away from Duo. I watched the men rush into the light, grab the backpack and disappear in the darkness again. I saw their shapes bent over the pack, checking if the money was really there. I almost rolled my eyes. Amateurs. If I wanted to I could pull the gun I hid in my shoulder holster and kill them on the spot.  
  
But I had something else in my mind for revenge, something that would make it pretty obvious among criminals that nobody played with me. So I stood there, arms crossed over my chest, waiting for them to remember me and their hostage being still there.  
  
Finally they turned back to me. "Alright, you can take him. But no dirty tricks," he warned me, trying to make it sound like a threat.  
  
I moved to where my lover lay on the ground. I dropped to my knees next to him, uncaring about damaging my new suit. He didn´t move or even open his eyes. He seemed pretty out of it. If the bastards drugged him... I knew how badly Duo reacted to drugs of any kind. I had been searching for months for a doctor who would be experienced enough to know how to work with former soldiers. Special case soldiers. I thanked Allah for bringing Doctor Nowak to me.  
  
I touched his face with one of my gloved hands, untying the gag. "Hey, Duo. Love, do you hear me?" I asked in a whisper. There was some dried blood on his right temple. What did the bastards do to him? Wasn´t it enough that they used the tranquiliser? I knew Duo, he was a great fighter, but not even he could have put much of a fight being half conscious. I touched his neck and searched for the pulse. It was there, slow and steady. I allowed myself a small sigh of relief. I pulled a small knife from my ankle holster to cut his bonds when I heard the click of a gun.  
  
"No tricks, rich man," the man with the awful accent spoke again and I was sure that he had his gun pointed at my head.  
  
"I need to cut his bonds to get him in the car," I explained. Allah, why couldn´t they just leave? What were they waiting for?  
  
"Maybe we should help," the man laughed again and the tone of his voice made it pretty obvious that he wasn´t talking about getting Duo in the car.  
  
I cut the bonds quickly and looked in his direction. "No, thank you," I answered coldly. I then helped Duo sit up and threw one of his arms around my neck and held it there. I slipped my other arm around his back and with a groan, moved both of us to our feet. I would have never said that Duo was so heavy.  
  
Trying to be as gentle as possible I dragged him to the passenger seat of my car, opened the door and let him slide into the seat. I was careful not to let him hit his head. Then I arranged his limbs so that he wouldn´t slip to the side, trapping him in the seat with his safety belt. For a moment I lingered in my crouch, looking at Duo´s face that was beautiful even now, marred with bruises and dried blood. I squeezed one of his hands gently and then caressed his face, touching his lips, his closed eyes, his forehead. It was one of my rituals in the morning, to just feel he was really there, that it wasn´t a dream. I always savored this gesture for the privacy of our bedroom. But now - even though we were in the middle of a dirty, smelly street in the worst part of the town – I needed this reassurance. I allowed myself to let the uncaring mask I put on for the kidnappers slip just a little and allowed my relief and the deep love I felt for my braided lover reach the surface. But then I reminded myself that there was still business I needed to take care off first. I had to get Duo to Doctor Nowak and get rid of these bastards who did it to him. And so I shoved all the tender feelings back, put them away for later.  
  
I stood up and closed the passenger door. I moved around the car and opened the driver´s door. I was just about to get in when one of the men called out to me again.  
  
"He was so sweet, rich man. No wonder you like him in your bed. He fought like a hellcat but when we tamed him a little he was the best lay I got in years." He laughed maliciously.  
  
I froze in mid-movement. I felt my face grow pale. My guts turned to ice. They were dead men. If I had any doubts left they disappeared now. I didn´t know if what he said was the truth or if he just wanted to show off but only for thinking about raping my lover they would die. Rashid and the Maguanacs taught me a lot during the wars. And one of the things I learned was that nobody touches what´s mine. Not without losing his life for it.  
  
I forced myself not to react and sat down in the driver´s seat. I closed the door and watched them get in their car too. I waited for them to back out of the street before I started the engine, the headlights going on automatically. I then backed out of the other end of the street, turned to the right and headed out of the slums.  
  
When there was enough distance between us and the kidnappers, when they thought they were safe and rich, when the cops couldn´t connect me and them anymore I reached into the glove compartment and pulled a small device out of it. A small red light was blinking on the small black box. When I slowed and then stopped at a red light I switched the device on, the red light turning green. I looked to the side at my unconscious lover and feeling the anger well inside of me once again I pressed the small red button on the device.  
  
Somewhere in the distance a big explosion rocked the slums, a ball of fire rose above the run down houses. Tomorrow morning Rashid will let the right people - people with power in the right circles - know what happened here. I was sure that nobody would bother the Winner family and their friends anymore.  
  
I smirked, throwing the device back into the glove compartment.  
  
Nobody takes anything from Quatre Raberba Winner without paying for it with their life...  
  
The End


End file.
